Has a job interview ever lead you to a different job at the same company?

Mr_Maths · 2 June 2020 at 7:48AM

Has anyone had a similar experience which has lead to them being offered a more suitable role?

General_Grant · 2 June 2020 at 7:55AM

Build on and analyse your strengths, Mr_Maths.
It hardly matters whether it led anyone else to stay with a company but in a different role.

74jax · 2 June 2020 at 7:59AM

They could just be saying they will keep you in mind, but actually don't. It could be months until another position becomes available.
Just keep looking at jobs in the company if you really want to work there and continue to apply.

Soot2006 · 2 June 2020 at 8:15AM

We said that once because we had another ole coming up and the interviewee seemed ideal for it but not the current vacancy. Unfortunately, during the hiring process for the new vacancy, several even more suitable candidates turned up and we wished we hadn't given the interviewee false hopes. That said, we DID remember him and we did call him back to highlight the new vacancy, so it could have happened!

TELLIT01 · 2 June 2020 at 9:03AM

Yes, it happened to me many years ago, also following redundancy. I applied for a job which was lower down the skills range than my previous job. I had the interview and got on really well with the interviewer. A few days later he called me to say I was over qualified for the job I had applied for, but they had another role which they thought would suit me better. I was lucky in that the job was there immediately and that's the role I went in to.

There was also a positive knock-on from that job. It was a 6 month contract to cover maternity leave, and when it was coming to an end I was informed of a job with another company in the area (known about through my manager's networking) who needed somebody with my skills and experience. I was given time out, paid, from the current job to go for interview and was then offered the new job on the spot.

lincroft1710 · 2 June 2020 at 4:47PM

Nearly 50 yrs ago I had an interview for a position with (what was then) the Inland Revenue. Rather than the department I had applied to, it was decided that I would be more useful to another department, so was offered a position with that department, which I accepted

theoretica · 2 June 2020 at 9:34PM

From the recruiting side, we had a maternity leave post in our department and rather than advertise we offered it to someone who had recently interviewed well for a similar role in a different department.

General_Grant · 2 June 2020 at 9:50PM

By the way, something like that did happen to me. I applied for and was interviewed for Job A but was not offered the job. However, arising from my particular skills and the interview, Job B was created and offered to me. However there wasn't a delay with my details being retained on file before the offer was made.

TELLIT01 · 3 June 2020 at 9:06AM

Mr_Maths said:

@TELLIT01 that's a good story, I suppose the job being available at the time helped.

Absolutely. Most definitely a case of being in the right place at the right time.

As an add-on to that story, whilst I was still in the first job 2 other people from my previous employer also applied for jobs (we had all been made redundant by that employer), and my boss asked for my opinions of them. They were actually both good workers, but with very different characters. One very laid back and the other with a tendency to be a bit confrontational. I gave my honest appraisal of both, and both got the jobs. When I was leaving, I was chatting to the boss and he commented that my appraisals of these two had been absolutely spot on.

Ditzy_Mitzy · 3 June 2020 at 9:21AM

Yes, sort of. I applied for a job and got a call from HR at the parent company of the lot with the vacancy. He said that the vacancy wasn't really suitable but wondered if I wished to attend an interview at one of the company's other offices. It was similarly local and I had nothing to lose so agreed to it. I had the interview and got the job at the second office - which was nice considering that I'd neither applied for it nor knew that it existed!

Comms69 · 3 June 2020 at 10:11AM

I've applied and interviewed for a role, which i didnt get, a week later i got a call about a different role at the same company. I came in expecting a proper interview and instead had a 10-15 minute chat with the new manager and was offered the job there and then; so yes it does happen.